Investor and television magnate John de Mol has built up an 18.41% stake in Telegraaf Media Groep (TMG), which is currently the subject of a takeover bid by Belgian company Mediahuis.

The stake was revealed in a filing with the Dutch authority for financial markets AFM, the Financieele Dagblad said on Wednesday.

Until the AFM announcement is was widely known that De Mol, who made a fortune from the Big Brother television franchise, had a stake in TMG but its size was undisclosed.

The AFM also revealed that insurer Delta Lloyd has increased its shareholding in TMG to 11.2% from 7.1%.

Battle

The filings show the battle for control of TMG is hotting up after a €5.25 per share bid by Belgian group Mediahuis in December, the paper said.

The bid, which values the Dutch newspaper group at €243m, was made jointly with VP Exploitatie, the investment company of the Van Puijenbroek family which holds just over 40% of TMG shares.

Newspapers

TMG is publisher of the country’s largest newspaper De Telegraaf as well as free sheet Metro and the Noordhollands Dagblad.

In addition to being a shareholder in TMG, De Mol is also a major business partner. Last year, he merged his radio stations 538 and Radio10 with those of TMG, Sky Radio and Radio Veronica.

De Mol has a 75% shareholding in the merged company, Talpa Radio, TMG, the remaining 25%. De Mol is also involved with TMG in the development of online video channels.